The pillared clay catalyst, which was obtained by exposing activated clay powder to sulfuric acid and aluminium salts and calcining in air at 373 - 673 K, was found to be highly active for the title reaction. The activity is mainly attributed to the Lewis acid sites and also to a small number of Bronsted acid sites, whose number and strength increases with the extent of pillaring. The kinetic equation of surface esterification is y = 2.57x - 1.47.